Hi all, a quick update and then during the week end i'll reply to your kind replies.

A mixed turn.

China...well, the usual mess (see screenshot). Chungking is now in direct danger and i've to say that i understimated greatly the pace the japs can have even when their supply lines are cut...

Anyway...At Colombo the last strike of the KB finally sunk the POW...the last hero of the "Miri gamble" (BC Repulse, who ate a fish during that great battle, was lately sunk by jap cruisers west of Borneo). However the Trusty Sub managed to put 2 torps into a jap CV!!!!...which is quite a miracle considering how bad my subs have performed so far! Hopefully now the KB will retire (it doesn't have anything more to ask from this operation i guess).

In Burma Japan's 15th Army is advancing towards Mandalay...

Near San Diego another ACM have raided my routes...damaged a couple of APs but then i showed him i finally learnt the lesson and the japanese raider was mauled and sunk by my escort DD division! This is the third ACM sunk so far...;-)

It's cetainly possible if an experienced IJA player is facing a relatively inexperienced Allied player who doesn't know the likely routes of enemy advance. If an Allied player doesn't adequately garrison Hengyang and Changsha early the Japanese can blow right through and the Chinese are in for a world of hurt. Also, futher north, if the Chinese try to make a stand around Loyang or Nanyang, the Japanese can beat them up or bypass them, once again shattering the MLR. It takes some playing before an Allied player knows where to defend and how to get his troops there in time.

Well, it takes the Japanese player some time to gather up his forces, deal with supply and partisan issues, select a vector or two of advance, and get his troops in place. But the Allied player has to use this time to round up his own scattered forces and get them into bases (or favorable terrain) where they can build fortifications. If the Allied player dallies, or choose the wrong places to defend, he can be in big trouble quickly.

Please consider, a part from my inexperience, that rader devoted every effort to Chinese theatre. if you take the time to read back few pages you'll find that he has brought most of his southern area army divisions (plus those who are added in scenario 2) to China, chosing to simply bypass Malaya and Singapore and to limit himself to siege Manila (even without bombing it). He's using, since day 1, hundreds of bombers (both from IJAAF and IJNAF) to cover his advance vectors. The AVG, a part from a small succesfull operation in early december at Whuchow, could not fight because of more than 100 zeros operating in China. For sure i was lazy the first 3 turns, but i don't think i've committed too many mistakes. he has chosen to bypass every single strongpoint that i created in favourable terrain and, when he had no choice if not attacking my stacks, he has done it under the umbrella of hundreds of bombers that paved his way to victory. I've conducted partisan activities since day 1, cutting his supply lines and threatening his back bases, but the surplus of troops he brought there, with probably a constant use of transport planes for supplies, has strongly limited the results of these countermoves of mine. And i have to thank myself not to have listened to those who suggested me to strongly garrison Changsha...i managed to slip most of my units from there before the big pocket was closed...

I've seen that AAR of FatR where he invaded Hawaii...it's a mess once japan puts a foot there. All the coms from West Coast to Oz are almost interdicted and, with the annihilation of the whole pacific fleet assets (talking about ships and LCUs) the capabilities of the US to get back into a fighting war strongly decrease...FatR says that, in mid 1943, the expenses (in fuel and other war assets) due to the Hawaii invasion have been strongly re-paid in terms of VPs and in terms of strategic situation....

Bigred is right in his response to that. I got extremely lucky with each of my two carrier voyages down from Hawaii wiping out a troop-loaded convoy, but overall it is very hard to systematically interdict anything from there, even in ideal conditions. The main problem is crushing fuel cost of maintaining raiding operation beyond the range of LBA airsearch from such distant base. Hawaii have paid off so far in terms of destroying Allied ships, but in terms of interdicting communications... not so much. Things might have been rough for Allies, in terms of convoy routing, had I taken Christmas Island, but by the time I had a fleet to spare, it was so bristling with Allied troops, that I was forced to call off the invasion.

I must say I'm amazed by the extent of Japanese advance in China. Although concentrating Southern Army in this theatre explains much. Well, I advise you to a)start fortifying India now and b)to think if you can stage an early counterattack againt Gilberts-Marshalls (or, if you feel really brave, Aleutians), while you know where KB is. It is a fairly safe bet that no island there, except maybe Kwajalein, holds more than a NavGuard, if even that. Either this will force a major Japanese commitment, reducing the pressure on China and in SRA, or you will be able to breach his perimeter on cheap. The biggest problem with this plan I see is thorough destruction of USN surface assets at Pearl...

Thanks guys. I really do not know. We have an HR that prevent (except for Russia) the using of restricted LCUs for other theatres (moving from China to India for ex...).

What i know is that all my major theatres are understrenght at the moment. In india i have only a shadow of an Army. not to say about the air assets. In Oz the LCUs are ok, but there's so much land to defend...Hawaii are almost undefended...only PH have a decent garrison...i think i've made a mistake to send all those regiments to Palmyra, Canton, Pago, Suva and whereever... he could simply land on Big Island, place a number of betties and nells there, along with zeros, and wait for my naval units to sacrifice themself...

On the 19th of Jan he landed in northern oz (Portland Roads and Normanton)...these are minor landings...probably baits or part of his main strategy which consists in conquering everything conquerable and make me pay for every inch of land i eventually will gain.

However i'm not scared by these landings at the moment. Untill Manila, Singa and Batavia are over he won't have enough units to prepare a major operation. A big supply convoy is however moving from West Coast to Oz...just in case

KB remains south of Colombo (why???), despite the torpedoing of one of her main ships...was it just FOW?!?!?!? My subs haven't been lucky this time...4 attacks...for dude torps on KB escorts BTW he should now feel less safe with his KB in those waters...i've filled the whole I.O. with ducth and S-class subs....let's hope for the best!

Jan 20. The situation in china is absolutely desperate. Chungking is being sorrounded and he created another pocket around my last strongpoint at "dontaskmethename" south east of Chungking where 2500 chinese AVs are now blocked there. I give up my last hopes there. The AVG has been transfered back to India, being absolutely useless there against 120 Zeros that sweep my bases every day. In Burma Mandalay now is under siege. KB finally retired towards Rangoon (maybe) and the ship sunk report tells me the Soryu CV has been sunk!!!!....is that FOW or i can believe it?????...that would be simply great!!!!!! PM is sorrounded and more landings in North-East of Oz... Mini KB has been spotted close to Luzon going back to the Pacific...gotta pay attention now! Batavia repulsed another frontal attack but now has no more forts to defend behind... HUGE convoy of troops, planes and supplies is moving from San Diego to Sydney...hopefully my cats at Pago Pago and Canton Island will be able to spot a jap raid in time to disperse it...finger crossed!!!!

Ok, i have a strong feeling that those landings north of CookTown in Oz are a preparation screen for an invasion od Australia. I so decided to take an important decision: I'm sending 3 rgts, 4 arty units, 3 AAs and 2 Tank units from Hawaii/West Coast to Oz, with some support units (base forces, 1 Corp HQ and 3 eng units)...

I do think that, also after the latest comment of FatR, that Rader isn't coming to Hawaii nor for other pacific expansion. I do think he's aiming to a big target, which can lead him to autovictory. Now, considering our HR regarding USSR activation, probably the ruskies are a jiucy target no more... If he was coming for India i think he should have given to Singapore a much bigger priority instead of Java...so...it only remains Oz! And these first landings, with the very likely invasion of PM, could be a sign of the much bigger coming Invasion!

Think i have at least 1 month to reinforce Oz from West Coast now. he will need to destroy Batavia and then to reorganize his army/fleet and probably finish the main job in China...One month...only one month...I have to run!!!!

Soryu might theoretically be sunk, but I won't bet on it. There is a known bug with intelligence reporting sinkings whenever major flotation damage of a damaged ship increases at sea. Well, at least, she's damaged badly enough for her condition to deteriorate on the way, so might be stuck in shipyard for half a year.

CRSUTTON I have to be honest here. I can't believe that a player of Rader's skill level would foist scenario #2 on an new player such as you. What was he thinking and what pleasure could he possibly get out of it? Sorry, it escapes me and comes off as very cheesy? Scenario #2 gives the Japanese player too many advantages and it gives even highly experienced Allied players fits. He even managed to stack the house rules to his benefit. I am not being critical of your efforts at all-you are very game to try it. But it sort of looks like a puppy getting slammed by a truck.....

China: Japanese tank regimensts, come out from nowhere, conquered one of those bases very north of China. Don't remember the name but however is one of those who guard the trail-road from Manchuria to Soviet Union. Every flow of supplies from the soviet ally is now forbidden. In northern China Lanchow is now under siege, while in Central China things have gotten a little bit better. At the very last second we managed to push back a tank regiment who was encircling Chungking and, despite one of the two roads that lead from Kweiang to Chungking was occupied by the japs, we managed to open a small corridor that allowed to some 1000 chinese retreating AVs to get safely beyond Chungking forts. China is doomed, no matter what, but these 1000 AVs will make Chungking last for some more time.

DEI-SRA: Batavia is still holding. My brave soldiers, altough daily bombed by 90 Japanese bombers, managed to repulse 5 japanese attacks. Forts are down to 0 so i'm not expecting much against 900 japanese well experienced AVs...but every day is a gained day!

Singapore: The japs arrived and shock attacked. They've been repulsed with HUGE losses and they did not manage to put down the forts (level 4). They're now resting, helped by some 60 Sallies that started to bomb my defences. 1800 Jap AVs present here.

Manila: Japs are just air bombing Manila. They only have 600 AVs here so i don't think they'll attack anytime soon.

OZ: Japanese land forces landed at Exmouth, north of Perth.

India and Burma: Japanaese naval assets are blocking Diego Garcia. Some DDs and CLs there. He sent an ACM up towards Scoodra, but the damned raider was found and sunk by a RN Cruiser Division. Japanese increasing sub activity near Karachi. Already 2 transports have been hit and sunk. Will try to perform some ASW patrols in the next days. In Burma the 15th Army conquered Mandalay and pushed back our forces towards Mitikina...Burma is lost and the Burma road soon will be closed. He's reinforcing Port Blair a lot. Intel says many eng units are moving there.

The KB moved back towards Palembang, while another smaller CV divisions have been spotted 5 days ago around Luzon moving towards Japan and the Pacific... CV Soryu is still confirmed Sunk....finger crossed In SOPAC small japanese landings in New Caledonia occurred, while Australian CLs managed to sink another jap ACM raider near Brisbane...

Couple of good days. We managed to sink another pesky AV which was patrolling north of Diego Garcia...clearly scouting for a future raid on my convoys... Japan landed at Caernavon...now the two northern corners of Oz are in Japanese bloody hands...with his Mavis he'll be able to patrol my supply routes to Oz even without his subs or AVs... My subs are still having problems in hurting his shippings but only because of the dude torpedos...my crews are doing good actually hitting many times...but the torps explode 1 out of 4 times...

AFTER ACTION REPORTS FOR Jan 30, 42

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Day Time Surface Combat, near Diego Garcia at 5,53, Range 15,000 Yards

Japanese sub activity is rising up in Indian Ocean and Bengal Bay...We've been lucky today with CL Mauritius evading 2 sub attacks near Karachi...have to reinforce my ASW assets in this area. We've sunk another AV today north of Diego...we've managed to sink 6 AVs since the beginning of war...not a bad result i'd say.

Another jap raider between PH and Hawaii...and another one close to Sydney....they didn't sink however any ship this time...will try to reply to this threat right away.

The situation in Oz is the Following: he's landing, or he has already landed, on all the bases (except for Darwin) on an arc that goes from Geralton (north of Perth) to CookTown (north of Cairns). His landings, at the moment, are very small. He lands just an SNLF or a Naval Guard unit, conquer the base and the jumps onto the next one. I have no assets to dispute these landings (except for a couple of subs based at Perth) so he has encountered no opposition at all. Still have to decide if these are minor operations (done in order to encrease with little cost his southern perimeter and place some mavis on naval search) or a preparation for a main jump to Oz. The fact that he has been scouting Diego Garcia with all those AVs and DDs might mean he's looking for invasion opportunities in India...but truth is that i know nothing about his plans...my intel says nothing interesting during the last days... I just hope he's not going for Hawaii...

What do you think? Which is more valuable? India or Oz? Which is easier for Japan?

Burma. Burma is lost. Mandalay has been abbandoned after the latest defeat and now what remains of Burma army is marching in the jungle, trying to reach Indian border...it will be a long starving march...

SRA-DEI. We've lost every single base except for Sebang in Sumatra and Batavia in Java. The Japs are bringing many units to Batavia and, despite they've always been repulsed till now, our losses started to become higher than theirs...which, in consideration that the air bombing from Palembang has become very vigorous during the last week, is clearly a sign of a downfall...i bet in less than a week Batavia and the whole Ducth army will be lost.

Malaya. At Singa we're resisting bravely. We still have 1200 AVs (compared with japs' 1900) and a pretty good source of supply left. Forts are still up to 4 and Japan still need to bring many more forces here if he wants to get Singa anytime soon without starving it. If he wants to get to India he needs Singapore...so everyday that Singa rests on foot, it's a day he's wasting if he wants to come to India.

Luzon. Here the situation is very similar to Singa, but he can easily forget Manila and slowly bomb the place back to stoneage without risking of having a nail on his side...

China. You all know the situation so i won't bother you again...DRAMATIC

OZ. After the last landings Australia is clearly in danger and so it is NZ and Fiji. But, a part from hoping that my huge convoy (which si now south of Christmas Island) arrives at Sydney with supplies, fuel, planes and troops safely, there's really not much i can do.

SOPAC. PM is isolated and will soon be stormed. New Caledonia is empty and will soon be conquered.

The odds of Soryu sinking are so small that, were I you, I would assume that she didn't. In a month or two or three, you're likely to get a SigInt message, "Previous reports that CV Soryu was sunk are incorrect; intelligence reports her at sea."

Noumea is a death trap against an experienced Japanese player unless Japan has committed most everything somewhere else. That is, unless through SigInt and paying attention you know that your opponent doesn't have much infantry available, sending your troops forward to garrison Noumea is an invitation for them to be isolated and destroyed. If you still hold Noumea later (say summer or autumn of '42), you'll have additional units and it might be worth reinforcing Noumea, but not in early '42.

If your opponent commits the great weight of his army to Oz and/or India, I'd be looking for a chance to hit him somewhere where he aint and where it would hurt. Burma/Malaya would be one possibility. NoPac (under very limited conditions and with a massive and well-thought-out plan) would be two possibilities. Your opponent could not afford to let you get a massive NoPac lodgement, so he'd have to send his carriers to take control of the sea lanes (assuming he thought your carriers were up there). That might really slow him down in Oz and permit you to bring in reinforcements. As for Malaya/Burma, a major offensive there is a bit threat to the IJ heartland as it puts Signapore, Bankgkok, and possibily even Saigon at risk. Also, you could conceivable send troops up the Burma road into China.

Those are drastic plans, but once Japan has you on the ropes and you know where the enemy is and where it aint, you've got to manufacture a major threat in order to wrest initiative away and make your opponent react to you.

The odds of Soryu sinking are so small that, were I you, I would assume that she didn't. In a month or two or three, you're likely to get a SigInt message, "Previous reports that CV Soryu was sunk are incorrect; intelligence reports her at sea."

Noumea is a death trap against an experienced Japanese player unless Japan has committed most everything somewhere else. That is, unless through SigInt and paying attention you know that your opponent doesn't have much infantry available, sending your troops forward to garrison Noumea is an invitation for them to be isolated and destroyed. If you still hold Noumea later (say summer or autumn of '42), you'll have additional units and it might be worth reinforcing Noumea, but not in early '42.

If your opponent commits the great weight of his army to Oz and/or India, I'd be looking for a chance to hit him somewhere where he aint and where it would hurt. Burma/Malaya would be one possibility. NoPac (under very limited conditions and with a massive and well-thought-out plan) would be two possibilities. Your opponent could not afford to let you get a massive NoPac lodgement, so he'd have to send his carriers to take control of the sea lanes (assuming he thought your carriers were up there). That might really slow him down in Oz and permit you to bring in reinforcements. As for Malaya/Burma, a major offensive there is a bit threat to the IJ heartland as it puts Signapore, Bankgkok, and possibily even Saigon at risk. Also, you could conceivable send troops up the Burma road into China.

Those are drastic plans, but once Japan has you on the ropes and you know where the enemy is and where it aint, you've got to manufacture a major threat in order to wrest initiative away and make your opponent react to you.

Noumea is truly a death trap Imho. i don't have enough forces to be sent there at the moment in order to prevent a mass invasion. Nor i can rely on my 4 CVs by now...I'd say better to send troops to Oz and fortify there instead of Noumea. However untill Japan discloses his plans for the 2nd phase i can only make assumptions. i want to remain as elastic as possible. At the moment Oz is my first bet so to Oz i'll be sending reinforcements and supplies. india, by now, has more than twice the supplies that has oz...so there it goes my priority. For my counterattacks...well, i still don't know. AFAIK NOPAC is a damned difficult theatre of operations. Blizzard makes landings harder and even a small garrison can become a tough nut to crack. Probably, if he goes to Oz, the usual "Burma- counteroffensive" is the way to go...

However we'll see...

Rader has been pretty busy in the last days so weve slowed down a bit the flow of turns.

NoPac is a no-go for contested invasions during winter, but winter is about to end.

Here's the thing - it takes weeks and months to set up a major operation; all the troops, supplies, ships, aircraft, prep have to be in position, not only for the initial assault but for follow-up reinforcement and support later on. So, if you think you could find yourself in a dire situation in Oz and China soon, you need to be identifying forces to commit, and prepping and moving troops and ships to bases of embarkation now. If you're like most Allied players, political points are precious, so you might be able to commit to only one major potential strike. Also, you'll be wanting to prepare fake assaults elsewhere as deceptions. So get cracking!

ORIGINAL: Canoerebel Here's the thing - it takes weeks and months to set up a major operation; all the troops, supplies, ships, aircraft, prep have to be in position, not only for the initial assault but for follow-up reinforcement and support later on. So, if you think you could find yourself in a dire situation in Oz and China soon, you need to be identifying forces to commit, and prepping and moving troops and ships to bases of embarkation now. If you're like most Allied players, political points are precious, so you might be able to commit to only one major potential strike. Also, you'll be wanting to prepare fake assaults elsewhere as deceptions. So get cracking!

Reading this AAR I'm reminded of the classic line from "Apollo 13": "What do we have on the spacecraft that's working?"

These two opponents appear to be badly matched, but still . . . Pick a line to defend and start doing it. Running around reacting will only get you killed while out of breath. Pull whatever you can back into India and hope he can't supply across the divide. Figure out if China is toast or not. If it is, don't invest in failure. I'm with CR in saying right now, don't tie yourself down to defenses built on islands like Noumea. Defend India, SE Oz, and Pearl, then figure out where the game is. It might be too late already, but running around isn't going to stop the bleeding.

The situation in Oz is the Following: he's landing, or he has already landed, on all the bases (except for Darwin) on an arc that goes from Geralton (north of Perth) to CookTown (north of Cairns). His landings, at the moment, are very small. He lands just an SNLF or a Naval Guard unit, conquer the base and the jumps onto the next one. I have no assets to dispute these landings (except for a couple of subs based at Perth) so he has encountered no opposition at all.

Hi Greyjoy. be advised I have found those australian 2/4,2/5,2/6,2/7 armored regiments to really be able to knife unsupported jap infantry in plain terrain. So I would suggest you set a picket line w/ one or two of these units north of perth. then counterattack geraldton.

Use only motor or mechanized units in western austrailia until about 5/42. The infantry is too slow to get back to the east if japs cut your rail line. be careful about the rail junction at Adalade. Insure all ports in this area are allied occupied or Rader will laugh as he cuts your supply to perth.

If u use moter units in perth area for defense this should hold him off and force japs to come down from Cooktown.

you will find austrailian armored units using american m2 stuart or m3lee/grant rarely take any losses and will eventually grind those nasty SNLF units into disorder.

LOL you will really have fun when one of your armored units upgrades to the lee/grant about 4/42. Then kick his rear. Sounds like he will use sea mobility to take all your ungarrisoned ports so be careful not to overcommit into western Australia as he is scouting your ground deployments in Aust. I understand you may not know "what is overcomit or undercomit."

So if he lands an SLNF then all u really need is one armor battalion to counter this.

So form some QRF(quick reaction forces) armor units prepositioned, 1 around perth, another at adelade, then more on japs as they land. Use your infantry in eastern aussie land. Dont put your big units too far north..past brisbade is dangerous as if IJ is coming south he will bypass you.

So form some QRF(quick reaction forces) armor units prepositioned, 1 around perth, another at adelade, then more on japs as they land. Use your infantry in eastern aussie land. Dont put your big units too far north..past brisbade is dangerous as if IJ is coming south he will bypass you.

And if he comes south of Brisbane prepare to take and manage the reenforcment package.